Otto Wilhelm Struve (1819-1905) German astronomer, born at Dorpat. He followed his father, Friedrich Struve, as director of Pulkova Observatory near St Petersburg, Russia. Two of his sons became astronomers, and his grandson Otto became director of...

James Bradley (1692-1762) English astronomer, born at Sherborne, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Appointed Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford (1721). As third Astronomer Royal (1742-1762) he followed Edmond Halley as director of the Royal...

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) demonstrating his telescope, Venice, 1609. In this artist's reconstruction Galileo, Italian astronomer, mathematician and physicist, is showing his telescope to the Doge and the Venetian Senators. From Vies des Savants...

Reflecting telescope of 40 ft/12 m focal length, 1789. Built by William Herschel (1738-1822) the German-born English astronomer, this instrument was the largest in the world, had a 4 ft/1.2 m mirror. Herschel made observations with this telescope but...

William Herschel (1738-1822) German-born English astronomer, shown holding a diagram of Uranus and its satellites. Uranus was the first planet discovered since ancient times. Engraving after pastel by John Russell.

Ptolemy (Claudius of Ptolemaeus) activel150 AD Alexandrian Greek/Egyptian astronomer and geographer, using quadrant to measure altitude of Moon. Behind him stands Urania, Muse of Astronomy. He is shown wearing crown as he was sometimes confused with the...

Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920) English astronomer and spectroscopist born at Rugby, Warwickshire. In 1868 he detected and named the gaseous element Helium in the Sun's chromosphere. In 1869 he established the science journal Nature which he...

William Cranch Bond (1789-1859), American astronomer born in Falmouth (now Portland), Maine. First director of Harvard University Observatory (1840). He independently discovered the Great Comet of 1811 and was a pioneer of astrophotography....

Dorothea Klumpke Roberts (1861-1942), American mathematician and astronomer. Roberts at work on the Carte du Ciel at the Paris Observatory. She is using a plate-measuring microscope to measure positions of star images on photographic plates. She was...

Hevelius observing through refracting telescope on stand fitted with quadrant and plumb-bob so altitude of object observed could be noted. From Johannes Hevelius Selenographia Gedani (Gdansk/Danzig) 1647.

Jules Pierre Cesar Janssen (1824-1907) French astronomer at the eyepiece of his reflecting telescope at Meudon observatory France. An accident at a young age left him unable to walk or attend school. He worked as a bank clerk and eventually entered the...

Pierre Simon Laplace (1749-1827), French mathematician and astronomer. [1881]. His five volume Mecanique celeste 1799-1825 was the greatest work on celestial mechanics since Newton's Principia. From A Popular History of Science by Robert Routledge.

Pierre Simon Laplace (1749-1827), French mathematician and astronomer. His five volume Mecanique celeste 1799-1825 was the greatest work on celestial mechanics since Newton's Principia. 18th century Engraving.

Pierre Simon Laplace (1749-1827), French mathematician and astronomer. [1833]. His five volume Mecanique celeste 1799-1825 was the greatest work on celestial mechanics since Newton's Principia. From The Gallery of Portraits, Vol. II, by Charles...

Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier (1811-1877) French astronomer who calculated the position of planet Neptune in 1846. Calculations confirmed were shortly after by JG Galle at Berlin. Woodcut published London 1847.

Artist's impression of Urbain Jean Joseph Leverrier (1811-1877) French astronomer calculating the position of planet Neptune in 1846. Calculations confirmed were shortly after by JG Galle at Berlin. Engraving c1880.

Olinthus Gilbert Gregory (1774-1841) English mathematician and astronomer, born at Yaxley, Huntingdonshire, England. Mathematical master at the Woolwich Military College (1802-1841). One of the founders of the Royal Astronomical Society (1820). Engraving.

artist's rendering of a cosmic nursery as a star is born from the dark, swirling dust and gas of this cloud. Stars form when dark dust from the cloud begins to clump together under the influence of its own gravity. The infalling material forms a...

Paris Observatory in the time of Louis XIV. 1669 Louis XIV engaged the Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini (1525-1712) to construct and direct the observatory. Cassini spent the remainder of his life in France and became known as Jean...

Solar Eclipse Observatory, Nicobar Islands. Showing various illustrations including The Equatorial Camera, Brownings Reflector and Spectroscopic Camera and Sig Tacchini's Observatory. Other geographical scenes include the village of Malakka, and...

Tycho Brahe (Tyge Ottesen Brahe - 1546-1601) Danish astronomer, astrologer and alchemist who built astronomical instruments which enabled him to make the most accurate observations of his time. After a painting by an unknown artist.

Tycho Brahe (Tyge Ottesen Brahe - 1546-1601) Danish astronomer, astrologer and alchemist who built astronomical instruments which enabled him to make the most accurate observations of his time. After a drawing by an unknown artist.

Robert Stawell Ball (1840-1913) Irish astronomer and mathematician; populariser of science. Lord Rosse's astronomer at Parsonstown; Royal Astronomer of Ireland 1874-1892. Photograph published London c1890

Tycho Brahe (Tyge Ottesen Brahe - 1546-1601) Danish astronomer, astrologer and alchemist who built astronomical instruments which enabled him to make the most accurate observations of his time. His system of the universe (Tychonic system) was a mixture...

Demonstration of the Earth's rotation using (Jean Bernard) Leon Foucault's (1819-1868) demonstration of the rotation of the earth using freely suspended pendulum in the Pantheon, Paris, 1851. From La Nature (Paris 1887). Engraving.

William Herschel (1738-1822) German-born English astronomer: discovered first new planet since ancient times, Uranus. Built telescopes, including the 40-foot reflector shown in background. Artist's reconstruction.

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Italian astronomer, mathematician and physicist. Here he is facing the Inquisition, who challenged his claim that the earth moves, thus contradicting the theories of Aristotle. From Vies des Savants Illustres by Louis...

Tycho Brahe holding a sextant. Engraving from his Historia Coelestis (1666). Tycho Brahe (Tyge Ottesen Brahe - 1546-1601) Danish astronomer, astrologer and alchemist who built astronomical instruments which enabled him to make the most accurate...

?Louis XVI received by Jean Bailly, Mayor of Paris, 17 July 1789', 3 days after fall of the Bastille Oil on canvas. Jean-Paul Laurens 1838-1921, French Academic painter. Bailly, astronomer, revolutionary, and first Mayor of Paris

Galileo Galilei (Italian pronunciation: 15 February 1564 ? 8 January 1642)Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent...

Lord Rosse's 72 inch (1.8m) reflecting telescope, 1849. William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse (1800-1867) Irish astronomer and engineer, built the then largest telescope on his estate at Parsonstown, Ireland. With it he discovered 15 spiral nebulae,...

The Kew heliograph being used during the British astronomical expedition to view the total solar eclipse, Spain, 1860. The temporary observation point with the Kew heliograph inside, surrounded by astronomers. Warren De La Rue took the first photographs...

Flamsteed's equatorially mounted sextant fitted with telescope. View from telescope side. On right of picture is the top of exterior of the Octagon Room at Flamsteed House, Greenwich, built on the orders of Charles II (1630-1685) which became the...